century. The first recorded use of the
term mechatronics that I could find
was by Tetsuro Mori, an engineer who
worked for the Japanese company,
Yaskawa, in 1969. It described a
system composed of both mechanical
and electronic elements that was
controlled by an embedded system.
Factories here in the US, Japan, and
the rest of the world have long used
electronic controls in every facet of
manufacturing. When your $100,000
factory system needs very reliable
control, automation engineers go to
Allen-Bradley, Square D, and others for
the latest in control solutions. From
controlling multi-horsepower motors
to the smallest solenoids, electrical
and electronic systems are usually the
best approach.

The Fields of
Mechatronics at
Various Colleges

You might be wondering just how
mechatronics and robotics are related.
Going to Google and typing in both
words, there are over 600,000 hits/links.
Quite frankly, most of the definitions
say basically the same thing about
this technology; very similar to all the
timelines we read about robotics.
Everyone knows that the term sounds
‘hip’ but are really not sure where to
place it within the many fields of
technology. Thousands of colleges and
universities are listing both of these
technologies under the same part of
the school’s technology departments.

Robotics seems to be the catch
word to interest the prospective
student and then the mechatronics
courses prepare them for a multitude

FIGURE 1

80 SERVO 09.2008

of jobs within the industry.
Mechatronics has become so closely
allied with robotics because they both
rely upon mechanical engineering,
electrical engineering, and computer
science. It was the same systems and
sub-systems that made robotics a
possibility that also brought forth the
technology of mechatronics —
inexpensive and powerful computing
systems and sensors integrated with
mechanisms. In technical colleges
that feature mechatronics in their
curriculum, quite a few use the term
to introduce students to manufacturing
technology. Courses may include:

• Manufacturing process control

• Motion control

• Mechanical systems development
and modeling

• Process and motion control software
development

• Computer numerical control (CNC)
systems development

• Human-machine system development/
interfacing

These first course objectives tend
to prepare a student for today’s
manufacturing environment. However,
in the same courses of study you
might also find the following that are
more related to robotics:

• Robot design

• Feedback and control systems

• Robot control software development

• Computer mechanics

• Factory floor robot interfacing

MIT has always been in the forefront
of robotics development and has offered
a Robotics and Mechatronics Projects
for smaller groups of 50 freshmen

FIGURE 2

with 15 staff instructors and 25 upper
classmen assisting. Using the very
popular LEGO plastic block systems,
these ESG (Experimental Study Groups)
offer a hands-on series of classes to
introduce new students to this technology. The lecture series includes:

• Sensors + actuators and printer
disassembly

• Abstraction, writing control
pseudocode for the printers

• Discussing examples of good design
and bad design

• Feedback and control systems

• Mechanical transmissions

• Control and Programming Case
Study: The wall-following car

• Project Conclusion and demonstrations

• LEGO gear and geartrain physics

• Mechanisms

• Methods of manufacturing and
mass production

• Estimation and getting a feel for
measurements

• A one-day electronics class

Just take a look at some of the
topics of the lecture series. Figures 1-3
are some examples of student LEGO
creations from this MIT mechatronics
series of classes. In essence, all of the
students are using those simple LEGO
sets and are having a blast developing
some widely-diverse projects. All
include control by a microcontroller,
have mechanical movements to
accomplish a specific task, and use
sensors for some sort of feedback.

Virtually all of the students chose
to apply their machines on a mobile
base, so, almost all would fall into the
class of the typical hobbyist robot.
However, all of the tasks could easily
be applied to a typical industrial